Zelenskyy reacts to Maduro arrest: US 'knows what to do next'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy weighed successful Saturday connected the U.S. seizure of erstwhile Venezuelan person Nicolás Maduro, telling reporters that Washington "knows what to bash next."

Zelenskyy was speaking to reporters successful Kyiv aft gathering with nationalist information advisors from subordinate states of the Coalition of the Willing erstwhile helium was asked astir the stunning U.S. subject cognition that unfolded successful the aboriginal greeting hours successful Caracas.

"Regarding Venezuela? How should we respond to this?" Zelenskyy asked successful Ukrainian. "Well, what tin I accidental is, if you tin bash that with dictators, past the United States knows what to bash next," helium said with a smile.

U.S. forces took Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, from their compound, wherever they were boarded onto the USS Iwo Jima and flown to New York to look national charges.

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Federal instrumentality enforcement unit basal ticker extracurricular the Metropolitan Detention Center arsenic they await the accomplishment of captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, successful New York. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)

Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denounced the seizure of Maduro and his wife, urging the Trump medication to merchandise the "legitimately elected president of a sovereign state and his spouse."

In a superseding indictment released Saturday by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Maduro is charged with starring a narco-terrorism conspiracy tied to large-scale cocaine trafficking into the United States, on with related cause importation and weapons offenses.

Flores is besides charged successful the aforesaid indictment with participating successful a decades-long cocaine trafficking conspiracy and related firearms offenses.

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The charges physique connected anterior indictments from 2020.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro gestures adjacent to his woman Cilia Flores arsenic they permission the Capitolio, location of the National Assembly, aft taking the oath during the statesmanlike inauguration successful Caracas connected Jan. 10, 2025. (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine said the mission, dubbed "Operation Absolute Resolve," progressive much than 150 craft and a coordinated effort by the U.S. military, quality agencies, and instrumentality enforcement to apprehend the duo.

"This cognition is simply a testament to the dedication and unwavering committedness to justness and our resoluteness to clasp accountable those who endanger bid and stability," helium said astatine a Mar-a-Lago property league alongside President Donald Trump and different Cabinet officials.

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Trump told reporters helium ne'er spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin astir Maduro. 

"I'm not thrilled with Putin. He's sidesplitting excessively galore people," the president said erstwhile asked whether helium was upset astatine the Russian leader.

President Donald Trump speaks astatine his Mar-a-Lago club, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, successful Palm Beach, Fla. (Alex Brandon/AP)

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Moscow has continued pounding Kyiv with large-scale drone and rocket attacks arsenic the Trump medication works to unafraid a imaginable bid statement to extremity the astir four-year war.

"Russia has not shown a genuine willingness to prosecute peace. Instead, it continues its assertive war, violence, and destabilization, utilizing negotiations arsenic a maneuver to bargain time,"  Zelenskyy said during the Coalition of the Willing meeting, according to a connection from his office. "It employs provocations and manipulations to derail advancement successful the bid process,"

The Associated Press contributed to this report.